“I convinced Xavi, he wanted me to continue, but this start of the season I hoped to play a little more”
BARCELONA, 7 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic recalled his past at FC Barcelona under the orders of Ronald Koeman, of whom he was “very surprised” by his training “without intensity, tactics and ideas” and with whom “they did not prepare the matches”, something “very different” from day to day with Xavi Hernández, whom he “convinced” to stay, although he finally decided to leave at the last minute due to lack of minutes.
“I was very surprised when I saw Ronald Koeman’s training sessions. They were very short, without intensity, tactics, ideas. We didn’t prepare for the matches. I didn’t see a good preparation like the one I did with Juventus, a club where we won everything” , Pjanic explained in an interview on the program ‘Què T’hi Jugues’, which is collected by Europa Press.
The Bosnian was signed by FC Barcelona in the summer of 2020, although in his first season he did not enter into the Dutch coach’s plans, so he decided to go on loan to Turkish Besiktas at the beginning of the campaign. This summer, the player returned to Can Barça with the aim of staying in the squad under Xavi, with whom “you can see all the difference” in the methodology.
“Now the training sessions are very intense. The coach was very clear with us that this year he is going to run and train ‘at the top’. Those who don’t play always have a very intense training session. They are games in training,” he said of Terrassa technician.
However, the midfielder decided to leave the Catalan team, before the transfer market closes, bound for the United Arab Emirates, where he plays for Sharjah. “The decision was not easy because I was in an extraordinary team. You felt the union between the public, the ‘staff’ and the players. It wasn’t like that the first year. My great pain is that I haven’t done what I wanted to do for Barça “, lament.
“The first year with Koeman I had a very bad time, it was the main reason why I left. I didn’t have the chance to prove myself and get into the team. Quite the opposite with my return this year with Xavi, everything was phenomenal,” he added. Pjanic, who has only played 30 games as a ‘blaugrana’ and a total of 1,295 minutes.
“You can see that the team is something else, it has a very clear structure and ideas. It is counting on all the players who have stayed. Leaving Barça was not easy, I convinced Xavi, that it was important to prove it to a former first-class player I wanted him to continue, but this start of the season I hoped to play a little more”, he concluded.